I'll Be With You The Whole Way
by Shangalangalang
Summary: All new do-gooders need a guide. And who is Kid Flash to deny Jinx a helping hand in starting her career of good? Series of Flinx drabbles, set after Jinx leaves the HIVE Five.
1. Pizza

"Pizza?" Jinx asked, staring with a crooked eyebrow at Kid Flash as he stuffed a sub into his mouth. "You want pizza?"

"Yeah, I know, I just got a sandwich. But it's not enough. You know me, if I run out of juice, it's pretty bad. They didn't put a sufficient amount of mustard in it anyways," he replied casually, eyes fixated on the TV screen a few feet away.

Dressed in a red hoodie and jeans, mask thrown off carelessly, Kid Flash, or simply "regular" civilian Wally West, almost looked like your average everyday redhead. Jinx was surprised when he was willing to give up his identity so easily when he picked her off from wandering the streets. She supposed he knew she wouldn't give his actual identity up to the Brotherhood of Evil after that disappointing encounter with Madame Rouge that caused her to break ties with the Brotherhood of Evil and the HIVE Five once and for all. In a way, he had succeeded in converting her. But to what extent?

The two were on opposite ends of the couch in Kid Flash's apartment, Jinx opting to "read a book" (stay as far away from him as possible), enjoying the comfy goodness of the sofa, while Wally devoured his sandwich on the opposite end of the couch, playing a video game at the same time. A video game apparently "borrowed" from Beast Boy. It was funny how easily Jinx laid out the ground rules when this wasn't her home in the first place. Within a matter of minutes of arriving, Wally was given a list of "do's" and "don't"s, courtesy of his new roommate.

She didn't want to admit it, but ever since she left the HIVE Five for a better guided life, Jinx felt somewhat outcasted. And in reality, she was; everyone around her was afraid of her because of her past actions. She knew it was to be expected, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. She knew all too well who she was, and it was only natural for people to turn her away. It was not like they knew she was willing to change.

For a few days, she had to lurk in the shadows of the night and rely on the blending of the dark in order to find her way through society. It gave her a lot of time to think, to ponder, to wonder if this was really the right choice or if she should just give up trying to right her wrongs and go back to where it was easier, back into the darkness. That was when the stupid red-and-yellow idiot decided to literally sweep her off her feet and force her to stay with him until she found a new place to stay, or "forever", in his terms.

She'd find a place to say. She could have the instant she left. She just had other priorities, that's all.

But it was nice to have someone who cared.

Back to the present situation.

"Shouldn't you eat something healthy and nutritious? Instead of, you know." Jinx asked, cringing at the thought of the greasy, fattening triangular slices that she hated to admit, but tasted nice.

"Oh, I didn't know you cared, sweetie." Wally teased, putting his game on pause and setting the controller on the small wooden table set in front of the couch as Jinx chucked the book at his forehead, unamused. Being the man that he was, he sat there and took it with a lopsided grin.

"I don't." Jinx muttered coldly, turning her head and looking at the clock, which read 6:55 PM. It was getting late.

"Come on, you order, I'll pay. I'll even run all the way there if I have to." Wally pleaded, looking at her with those huge eyes that begged for approval. That prompted the sorceress to look even further out into the side.

"It's not like it's any effort for you to run to the pizza parlor and back," Jinx retorted with a scoff.

"Hey, hey, hey, in my defense-" Wally stopped abruptly as he came to a realization.

"Have you ever had pizza before?" he asked, eyes widening.

Jinx sputtered. "Of- of course I have!"

"Then why are you so reluctant?"

"It…it's disgusting! All greasy and fattening, and-"

"One slice won't hurt, Jinx."

"For you, maybe, you have a fast metabolism and you're constantly zooming around halfway across the world-"

"Look at you, you're literally skin and bones-"

"But that doesn't mean I don't do anything to maintain my figure-"

"I honestly don't see a problem with eating one delicious slice of Hey Pizza-"

"Delicious? More like gluttonous!"

"What's your problem, is it so hard to consume one itty-bitty slice of pizza-"

"Look, it's because I've never ordered a pizza before, alright?" Jinx exploded in a mess of pink fury, promptly ending the argument.

Wally's lips pursed immediately, but it didn't take long for them to break out into a smile, then a grin as he realized his interest wasn't actually angry.

"You've never ordered pizza?" he asked, staring at the adorable little pout on the girl's face.

"I was part of the HIVE Five. What do you expect? We didn't order. We demanded."

"But…it's pizza. Well, I don't suppose evil could spare a few bucks for a measly pizza, now can it?"

"It's not that. The point of being a villain is to get your way. We asked nicely at first. But long story short, we're kind of banned from ever ordering pizza again. Not that we care. Cared. We had other sources of food."

"Let me guess, you were slowly banned one by one from those other places, too?."

"Whatever." Jinx rolled her eyes with evident sarcasm.

Wally rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, slowpoke. Never thought you would have had such a bad experience with pizza." Then, suddenly, as if he got an idea, he got up.

Jinx blinked as a flash of red and yellow zoomed to the kitchen counter and landed right next to her on the sofa with a phone, a menu, and a business card.

"But you know, it's never too late to try." He smiled as he handed her the objects. Jinx took them carefully, as to not break them accidentally with her misfortune. She stared at the phone, then the card, then Kid Flash with inquiring eyes as he signaled for her to place the order.

"Don't tell me you don't know what a phone is," he chuckled.

"Lay off or I'll make you," Jinx growled as she dialed the number on the card. With Gizmo constantly on her tail, it was hard not to know what the basic aspects of technology were.

She held the phone up a few centimeters away from her ear after pressing in the number, and the call was immediately taken to speaker.

"Welcome to Hey Pizza! Our employees will be right with you to take your order…" the voicemail began. And with the voicemail beginning, Jinx's panic levels rose.

"What do I say?" she hissed, honestly not knowing what to do.

"I don't know, it's your decision." Wally shrugged. He figured part of the fun was watching Jinx learn. And if that meant watching her squirm, then so be it. It was pretty cute.

"Hi, my name is Brian, may I take your order?" the Hey Pizza employee asked with a dull tone that signified he had been doing this for a long time. It was nearing closing time, so it was completely to be expected,

"Oh! I, um…" Jinx trailed off, panicking at the voice. She looked to Kid Flash for help. He motioned to the menu in her lap. She quickly got the message and looked to the menu for anything remotely appetizing.

"Hello?" the employee called, wondering if she had misplaced the call.

"Yeah, uh, I'd like to order…" her bright pink eyes scanned the menu quickly as she blurted, "A large Pineapple Deluxe?" It came out more like a question, the way she said it. That may have been because her eyes landed on the brightest pizza on the menu, and that was the one with yellow, fruity toppings.

Wally snickered. Of all the things she could have chosen…

Not that he had a problem with pineapple.

"Anything else with that?" Brian asked.

Jinx looked to Wally for help. "Soda," he mouthed.

"A-And a large soda! Uhh, haha, um, a Coke will do." Jinx said nervously.

Brian chuckled. "Could it be that this is your first time ordering from Hey Pizza?"

Jinx smiled nervously, when in reality she looked like she was ready to kill something out of nerve. Specifically, Wally.

"Well, kind of." She replied hastily.

"Don't worry, young lady. I've got you. So, will that be all?" Brian's tone was different. A bit more…smooth? At least, that's what Wally noted.

"Yeah, I guess? I don't know."

"May I interest you in a new appetizer, the cheese breadsticks?"

"Umm, sure."

"Do you know about our special deals?"

"Well, I guess I do now?"

"Haha, you sound very nice. Can I get your name and number?"

"It's Ji-"

"Hey, man, are you gonna take our order or not?" Wally interrupted, taking the phone from her hand, clearly displeased at the blatant flirting the employee was trying on the girl. She seemed oblivious but he still didn't approve.

Brian was quiet for a moment before reverting back to his normal tone. "Your total is $24.95. It will be ready in 20 minutes. Pick up or deliv-"

"Delivery," Wally growled, and promptly shut the phone off.

Jinx, on the other hand, seemed elated. "That wasn't so hard after all,"

It was Wally's turn to be skeptical. He rolled his eyes as he slunk back to his edge of the couch and resumed his video game while Jinx looked over the menu like a baby looking into the world for the first time. She seemed fascinated, probably at how much more effective placing an order was than showing up to rob the pizza store of all its pizzas. And not at the creepy employee who tried to make the moves on her via phone when he hadn't even seen her face. It was like the endearing innocence and naivety of a newborn baby. And in a sense, she was; she was new to this whole normal, good life thing, having just come from the side of darkness. Secretly, she was glad Kid flash had introduced her to the other side. It seemed more honest, more moral. She was glad he was there with her.

Looking at her from the corner of his eye, Wally couldn't help but smile at himself.


	2. Library

"You like books, right?" Wally asked, dusting off his bookcase and carefully shoving books back into the wooden frames. He was going through some serious spring/summer cleaning after Jinx took one look at his pigsty of a room and immediately got to work on hexing him to clean.

"Stop asking such useless questions and get back to work," Jinx's eyes glowed a dangerous pink as she shuffled in her place, kicking her left foot in midair to get the article of clothing stuck on there off. Why it stuck to her boot in the first place, she had no idea. But it did. Gross. How did anyone live in such disgusting conditions?

"Yes'm," Wally muttered as he went back to sorting books. Jinx stood with her arms crossed, seemingly observing him, when the real thing she was interested in was a particularly intriguingly illustrated and scripted book he was putting away.

"Wait!" she walked over to the bookshelf and took out the book he just put away.

"Harry Potter? You're into that kind of stuff?" Wally asked, clearly amused.

"No, I've actually never seen this book in my entire life," she replied earnestly, eyeing the golden lettering. "I just heard about it on the streets."

"You wanna read it? It's one of my favorites," he motioned to the book as he got back to jamming smaller books into the shelf.

"I'm surprised you read at all. But okay," the girl took up his offer as she plopped down on his recently-made bed and began to read.

Wally didn't even notice she was halfway through the book until the bookshelf looked acceptable. At least, acceptable by Jinx's standards. He was totally fine with his living conditions just the way they were.

"Whoa," he commented as he plopped down on the pillow-end of his bed, careful not to break Jinx's "stay-5-feet-away-from-me-at-any-given-circumstanc e" rule. The sorceress was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the bed, eyes scanning the book quickly but with much interest.

"You're halfway through the book already?" he asked, amazed.

"I'm a fast reader," she replied tersely without looking up from where she was.

"I take it you like the book?" Wally asked with a cocky grin, rolling over closer to where she was.

"Yeah, it's really good! It would be better if you weren't coming over here like I wouldn't notice." She said cheerfully, just the tiniest bit of danger in her voice that signaled Wally to go back to where he belonged.

He couldn't help but sigh at the fact that he was Kid Flash, and here he was, being ordered around in his own dwellings by an ex-convict-turned-good who just stumbled by a few days ago.

She looked so at peace, though. She seemed to be on edge ever since coming to a former enemy's place to stay in, but he made sure to be extra helpful and kind so that any suspicions would be dropped. This was the first time he saw her so at ease.

And then she shut the book.

"I'm done," she said. Where's the next book?"

It caught him off guard. "What?"

"I said," she seemed irritated having to repeat herself. "I'm done, where's the next book?"

"You can't be done already," he got up and crossed his legs so he was sitting Indian-style across from her. "That book's huge! It took me 3 days to read it, and I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

"I've always been a fast reader," Jinx replied sheepishly. "I had to be, so that none of the HIVE Five members would catch me reading, of all things. It's just not an evil deed. They would have made fun of me if they ever caught me."

"I guess that's why they've never seen your unicorns either, huh?" Wally teased, earning a heavy thump on his forehead from the Harry Potter book, courtesy of Jinx.

"Where's the next book? I'm pretty sure there's got of be more of this," she looked thoughtful as she recapped the contents of the book, as if to look for a foreshadowment that there would be another book to clear things up.

"Yeah, it's a whole series. Do you want me to take you to the library to borrow the rest?"

That took Jinx out of her stupor. She froze, staring at Kid flash.

"Library?" she droned out the word, like she was a foreign person and the mere concept of a library was alien to her. Which it probably was.

"Yeah, you know. The place where you borrow books?" he asked. Surely she would know what a library is.

"I don't know," she replied after a short silence. "You can borrow books?"

Jinx looked intrigued as Kid Flash heaved a sigh. He always assumed a library was one of the fundamental building blocks of life, but here was a girl who had no idea what a library even was. In a way, it was somewhat endearing and adorable. Baffling, but adorable.

"I'll take you there," he decided as he got up, dusted his hands, and held his hands out for Jinx. She refused and stood up on her own, chin held high. 'Her loss,' he shrugged.

"Wait…" he stopped her by zooming in front of the doorway entrance, blocking her way. "You're not going out like that, are you?" Wally asked, motioning to her normal uniform she hadn't bothered to change out of since the time she'd been at his place.

It was a short walk to the library, since Wally lived in an apartment fairly close to the rest of civilization. It was perfect, really; quick stops to the local grocery stores and convenience stores built bonds between the redhead and the store owners over time. The library he had stopped going to so much a long time ago when his powers kicked in, but if it were for Jinx, he'd do whatever.

Wally changed into a simple red T-shirt with Flash's symbol on it (as if that weren't strikingly obvious enough, Jinx thought) and a pair of faded jeans, while Jinx opted for his darkest, smallest, plain black T-shirt (which, frankly, was still quite saggy on her, so she tied up the end towards her left hip), and a pair of old dark-wash jeans he didn't need anymore, so she cut it to her thighs and wore her usual striped stockings and boots underneath.

Despite her pink hair and gray skin, she at least looked like a normal civilian, wearing the clothes she was in at the moment. It wasn't so bad. After all, if Beast Boy could walk out with green skin and pointy ears, her pink hair and gray skin weren't so bad.

Going inside, the two got a couple of odd looks but otherwise were largely ignored. Wally knew his way through the maze of bookcases and books from his frequent visits pre-superhero-phase, so he knew just where to go: the Fiction Room.

He quickly located the second book of the Harry Potter and handed it to Jinx, who took it out from his hands and started reading immediately with wide eyes and just the tiniest hint of a smile on her face. Just like a little kid.

Wally looked away with a small blush on his face. Was it truly okay to find this girl so endearing? He was quite interested in her, from the beginning when he caught her and her ragtag group of "villains" robbing an antiques museum; he thought she was cute and true to his words, she could have done so much better. But he never imagined things would turn out like this. He'd absolutely had his doubts about trying to get her to convert, it wasn't like he was stupid and thought she would surely go over to the good side. He was actually glad he got ambushed by Madame Rouge, because that was the final catalyst in getting the unsure girl to change her views on the world, and turn to the light. She deemed herself as bad luck, but he knew it wasn't true.

All he felt from her was good luck, after all.

"Aren't you going to read?" Her voice cut through his thoughts like one of her hexes. He turned to find her a quarter through the book already, now sitting against the bookshelf with the book in her lap.

"I'm not too fond of reading," he replied smugly, prompting Jinx to roll her eyes then go back to reading.

"To be honest, I'm perfectly fine watching you read," he added, checking his nails casually as he leant on the bookcase behind him.

Jinx's head snapped up, and the pink blush in her cheeks turned rosier as she flew a small hex towards him. Wally dodged it quickly, but that caused a bunch of books to fall out of the shelf he was in front of, drawing some attention from the staff.

"Sorry," he shrugged sheepishly at a particular lady who glared at the two. He bent down to pick up the books and shove them back into their places.

"If you hadn't moved, we wouldn't have attracted so much attention!" Jinx hissed at the boy from behind the safety of her book.

"If I hadn't moved, I would have flown through three rows of shelves and that would have been worse." Wally shot back with a cocky grin, rendering Jinx helpless.

She turned back to her book, but she could still feel Wally's gaze upon her as she read.

"Why don't we, urr, borrow, this book?" Jinx suggested. "Since I can just lock myself up in the bathroom or something and read without having to feel your eyes on me."

He couldn't help but hear the sarcasm in her voice.

"Sure," he said cheerfully. Then his tone dropped. "Oh, but I left my library card at home."

"What?"

"The card you use to verify and keep a record of what you borrow?"

"I don't even understand that. But why would you leave that at home?"

"I thought you'd just breeze through the books!"

"Well it's kind of hard to do that when your attention is so fixated on me!"

"Why do you care so much? Is it because I'm drop-dead gorgeous and you want me to flirt with you? Because I think that's kind of obvious already."

"Please, don't flatter yourself, Mr. Hotshot."

"Shh!"

The same librarian who glared at Wally before came back to shush the arguing couple, whose voices were getting louder by the second.

Wally knew he could have avoided this whole conversation by zooming back and getting his card, but an idea in the back of his minded prompted him to stop.

"Why don't we get you a library card?"

Jinx gaped at him as he dragged her to the front desk.

"Wait! I didn't say-"

It was too late, she realized, as he flashed a charming smile to the man behind the desk.

"Hey there, I was wondering if my friend here could make a library card?" Wally asked, pushing Jinx slightly on the back. She was intent on giving him a death glare but the librarian looked up at her and smiled. She couldn't possibly just ignore him.

"Well, hello there. My name is Bill," he stuck his hand out for her to shake. He didn't seem scared at all of her. Of course, she was dressed in low cut jeans and a tied shirt, how intimidating could she look? And word did get out fairly quickly about her changing sides, ever since she left the HIVE Five and they were seen robbing banks without her, so people didn't give her terrified glances anymore.

"You must be new here. The library card is free of charge, of course, unless you fail to return items or return them late. I'll need your personal information to create the card, so just bear with me as I type the information in. Your name?"

The question caught Jinx off-guard. She composed herself, then spoke.

"Jinx."

"That's an interesting name. What is your last name?"

Jinx looked to Wally for help. He answered for her. "West."

"Jinx West, okay. Age?"

"Sixteen," she replied, choking on the realization that West was in fact, Wally's last name.

"Gender? Obviously female, so let's skip that…Address?"

Jinx didn't know how to respond. She never really had a home. Before the HIVE Five, she…she didn't want to go into her past too much. It wasn't like she could use it to her advantage. And she certainly did not want to give up the HIVE Five's address, either.

Luckily, Wally jumped in and gave the man his address instead. While he was at it, he gave his number, as well. The man looked confused but typed the information in anyway, assuming the two were dorming together.

"Alright, that's it! You're all set. Here's a card, just sign your name here and you'll be able to borrow books immediately."

Jinx smiled and accepted the pen the man gave her, signing her name onto the back of the card and taking it, marveling at the laminated plastic.

"By the way…" the man slipped her a piece of paper with a number on it. "I get off at 7 if you're free on the weekends."

Jinx nodded politely and took it, as Wally fumed, grabbed her hand, and walked away to the shelves again. He took out all the books of the Harry Potter series and marched back to the counter to borrow the books. Jinx handed the card, looking positively excited as the woman behind the counter scanned her card, then the books, then offering a bag to put the books in, to which Jinx replied yes.

"Your books are due on the 24th," the lady said kindly. "Have fun reading! I love this series as well."

Jinx was about to respond when Wally muttered a quick thanks, grabbed the huge bag of books, and motioned for Jinx to follow him. She did, blissfully oblivious to the whole situation.

'This girl's a lotta work, Wally,' he thought to himself as they walked back side-by-side to his apartment,, exasperated at guys constantly trying to hit on her and girls constantly admiring her presence. 'Who knew she'd be so popular?'

It was a silent walk, but Jinx looked happy anyway. Probably about the books she was about to indulge herself into.

But if she was happy, Wally was happy.

One thing bothered him, though.

"You're not actually going to read by yourself in the bathroom, are you?"


	3. Puppy

"Hey Jinx, what're you staring at?" Wally walked up to where Jinx was currently squatting at, under a tree in the deeper, more forest-y part of the park.

It had been a sunny day, and since it had been raining all week, Wally took the opportunity to take Jinx out for a walk in the park, as cheesy as it seemed. Which was the first thing she remarked upon entering the park, but he didn't say anything in protest, glad that she was following him anyway.

Almost immediately upon entering, his stomach growled, so he sprinted over to the nearest hot dog stand without warning. It was something the two were used to already. Food was his top priority, as evil was everywhere and he had to be ready whenever it showed up, and to do that, he needed to sustain his hunger, as that was one of his greatest weaknesses. It came to the point where the two had a mutual agreement in which she'd wait until he was done buying food. It wasn't like she minded; she understood he needed food just as much as she needed someone to depend on as she coped with the idea of being on the side of justice. It was strange how something so mundane could be seen as endearing, as life.

However, this time, when he jogged back, Jinx wasn't there. At first, fear coursed through him, wondering if she got kidnapped; maybe by the Brotherhood of Evil or her old friends? But then he reminded himself that she was a strong, independent girl who would hurt the people bothering her more than they could hurt her. With that in mind, he looked around, eating his food along the way, until he finally found her, perched under a shady tree, with some dogs barking in the distance.

He took one last bite out of a hot dog and took a sip from his soda as Jinx turned and looked up back at him with a somewhat worried expression on her face. That was new; Jinx's usual facial expressions were comprised of either mocking disdain towards Wally or quiet brooding which meant she wanted to be left alone. Wally knew this wasn't a peachy situation.

"It's a puppy," she said, pointing to what she was staring at. Looking over her shoulder, Wally saw that it was indeed a puppy she was looking at; a mangled one at that, too. All at once his initial playfulness disappeared as he kneeled beside her to take a closer look. At closer inspection, the puppy seemed to be breathing, but barely holding on to life. One of its legs seemed to be broken, it was shivering throughout, and its fur had traces of blood matted into its fur.

"Whoa," Wally breathed, reaching out and taking the puppy into his hands. It was pretty tiny, extremely light, even for a puppy, fitting perfectly into his two hands put together and weighing a little more than a full water bottle. The atmosphere suddenly seemed to go from a lighthearted walk in the park to a situation of severe gravity.

"What did you do to him, Jinx?" Wally asked, distressed.

At that, Jinx smacked him on the back of his head, a look of disdain crossing her face. "I didn't do anything, you moron! In fact, while you were getting a hot dog to sustain your metabolism, I was the one who scared away the dogs that were ganging up on the little guy."

Wally looked shocked for a moment, but that erupted into a smile quickly. That explained the barking. "I knew you weren't a bad person," he grinned happily.

She smacked him again. "This isn't about me being good or bad, we have to get him somewhere safe for now, it's on the verge of death if you haven't noticed." She stood and immediately began walking in the direction of Wally's apartment, which made him frown at first, as their day in the park was hampered by the puppy, but he erupted into a smile, as that meant she considered his place the first priority whenever she was in a predicament. It had only been a few weeks but she trusted him enough to rely on him for the majority of her needs. Maybe it was because she didn't really know any other place she could rely on. He shook these trivial things from his head immediately; right now, as she said, the puppy was in grave danger, so he hurried after her without second thoughts.

"Wait. Why aren't we going to the vet, again?" he asked.

"You said the vet was closed on Wednesday," she pointed out. Oh, right. He told her that a few days ago when she asked about nearby stores as they passed by on a tour around his neighborhood.

"It'd be faster if I ran," Wally reminded, taking brisk steps slow enough for Jinx to follow.

"Your identity," Jinx rolled her eyes.

"Hey, top priority is puppy, isn't it?" Wally gave her a cheeky grin, despite the situation.

"One more word and I'm gonna send a hex in your way," Jinx grimaced as she walked straight on, determined to reach her destination quickly as to avoid useless banter and save the puppy from certain doom.

"It's like you can't take anything seriously," she mumbled with disdain.

Wally fell back conspicuously, fighting the urge to protest, as he knew he could discern a serious situation from that of a happy one. But that didn't stop him from muttering something sassy under his breath as he trailed behind.

As soon as they arrived, Jinx took the puppy from Wally's arms and set it on the counter. It was then that Wally realized she had no idea what she was doing.

"Not an avid reader of Vets Weekly, are you?" he asked with a tone that seemed to get on her nerves every time he used it.

"Spare me the sarcasm; if you know what to do, then do it!" she snapped.

Wally shrugged and got to work on the little guy, more than qualified to take up the task. He was experienced enough with injuries from years of activity himself that applying first aid was nothing but a mundane task for him. Jinx stood slightly behind him and watched. She was slightly intrigued as to why he didn't seem as worried as she did from the start, but now she saw why; this kind of thing was normal for him. Her chest hurt a bit at the thought, the thought of him getting to the point where getting bruised and battered wasn't such a big deal anymore somehow hurt her deep inside. But she wouldn't express that, ever.

"Hey, this is fun. I can be the doctor and you can be the pretty nurse that stands by the doctor while he does his thing," he remarked lightheartedly as he applied gauze to the broken leg.

Jinx rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of "stereotypical" as her pink eyes darted from the puppy's leg to Wally's skilled, calloused hands. She contemplated regretting ever feeling bad. Wally found it weird how she didn't make any other comments, but he digressed.

"I would have thought, back in the day when you weren't exactly "good", you were the one who fixed everyone up when they were battered." Wally continued, rolling the gauze tightly over the leg.

Jinx looked upon him with scorn. "What makes you think that?"

Wally laughed lightly. "You just seem like the motherly type is all,"

Jinx glanced away for a split second before returning her gaze to the puppy. "It was always See-More. I'm bad luck, so whenever I tried treating the others, they'd just complain about it hurting more. After a while I just left the task up to See-More, since he seems to be naturally adapted to that kind of thing." Jinx chuckled slightly, a look of nostalgia and longing in her eyes. "He was like a dad…" she trailed off.

Deciding he hurt her unintentionally just enough, and feeling terrible, Wally averted the subject quickly. "What should we name it?" he asked suddenly, catching Jinx off-guard.

"Huh?" she asked, disbelieving, still caught up on her nostalgic reminiscence.

"I asked," Wally pet the puppy on the head. It was unconscious but it would come to soon; it wasn't fatally wounded like he thought, just a few bumps and scratches and a broken leg. Nothing a little ace bandage and a makeshift cast couldn't fix; at least, until they could go to the vet and get professional help.

"What should we name it?"

Jinx raised an eyebrow. "Is it a boy or girl?"

Wally paused, lifted the puppy up, looked at it carefully, and set it down once more, Jinx protesting that holding it up would be bad for it.

"It's a boy," he remarked.

"Oh," she replied, kind of disappointed. That was adorable, Wally thought, the way she got disappointed over such a childish thing like gender.

"Wally Jr.," he blurted.

Jinx stared at him. "Seriously?"

"Yeah!" he smiled brightly. "Doesn't it suit him? I bet he was pretty fast to get away from the other dogs like that, just not smart enough to realize that he would have gotten stuck at a dead end in the park."

Jinx stifled a laugh. "Just like you," she remarked.

Wally nodded, happy that she was better now. He'd learned how to appease situations quickly ever since she started sticking along.

"So Wally Jr., it is?" he asked incredulously.

"I suppose for the time being," Jinx acquiesced with a small smile on her face.

He walked to the cabinet to look for antibiotic cream, but realized he had ran out.

"Darn," he said, closing the cabinet doors. Antibiotic cream was necessary if he didn't want the puppy to get infected.

"I have to go out for a sec," Wally said. "I ran out of cream."

"What am I supposed to do, then?" Jinx asked, peeved he was leaving her alone with something so small.

"Just make sure he doesn't get chased by big dogs again," Wally flashed a smile as he zoomed out of his apartment without any other words. Jinx protested for a second, but realized it was futile as she grabbed a chair and set it next to the counter to look after the puppy.

"Brave little thing, aren't you?" she mumbled as she poked it slightly. It moved slightly at the contact, causing her to flinch away. She had never been so close to a dying carcass before. Though Wally said it wasn't a fatal injury, it still looked bad in her eyes.

The puppy reminded of her when she first met the HIVE Five. It wasn't a simultaneous meet, not at all, just a series of events that would eventually lead to a molding into a group. The battered puppy took her back to when she first met Mammoth.

The poor thing. He had the brawns of a titan but the brains of a fly; and underneath it all, a misguided heart. Now that she thought about it, maybe that's what all villains were; misguided. She certainly was misguided from the start, thinking she couldn't ever be on the side of justice even if she tried, due to her abnormal appearance and bad luck. But she had to admit; she was pretty lucky to have been shown a different path she could take.

Mammoth and Jinx first met when he was lurking around in the alleyways of a shady neighborhood, looking for a place to reside after escaping from the lab that had confined him. He just needed someone. Jinx just so happened to be in the same alleyway, in a similar situation of her own that she didn't want to reminisce on so much. Coincidentally, they ran into each other, Mammoth almost immediately taking a liking to her because she was the first person who had not run away from him in the whole day.

Of course, it wasn't in her place to run away; he was a towering, hairy giant but it wasn't exactly like she was Miss America. Back then, the two were just novices at crime; actually, Mammoth wasn't a criminal at all, at least not intentionally (accidentally breaking sidewalks and smashing fire hydrants was the very definition of evil to society, it seemed). Jinx had just resolved to be the best criminal she could be, because that was all that was there for her. She thought she had abandoned all and any sign of caring, because that would only be a hindrance to her goal.

But there was Mammoth, beaten up and torn up pretty badly from the bullets of police, despite it not breaking his skin, it still looked pretty painful. And even though she thought she threw away any compassion she had, it seemed that no emotions could ever be forgotten; hidden away, yes, but there will always be a pang of sadness, guilt, compassion, love, all those needlessly humane emotions she needed to rid of.

Worry. That was what she felt at the sight of the wounded peer. She worried, because he reflected something inside her, but physically, barely hanging on by a tethered line.

She couldn't do anything, in her current state; she didn't really want to bother with trying to figure out her new powers, so she just offered a handkerchief, one of the only possessions she longed to hold onto but at the same time destroy from her past life, which the burly soul accepted happily. She had wanted that to be the final time she ever showed compassion, but Mammoth had managed to run into her many days after that. The feeling of worry gradually went away when she found that he was more than capable of doing things himself, but other feelings still anchored themselves into her heart, and she couldn't help but feel motherly (as Wally put it) when he got hurt.

Because when Mammoth got hurt, she felt hurt as well.

She hated this feeling, the feeling of sadness. Did it have something to do with the fact that Mammoth was the first one of the six she encountered? Or maybe the feeling of guilt and sorrow for leaving her former friends to fend for themselves was finally crushing its weight upon her? It wasn't like she couldn't convince them to join her as well, but they had their own lives, and she wanted nothing but to let them enjoy themselves in the ways they wanted to. She had hurt them enough. And that was the last thing she wanted to do, but she did anyway.

She stared at Wally Jr. Funny how she was calling him that. He resembled Mammoth so much, not in the sense that he was big, which he obviously wasn't, but the fact that she had found him at his most vulnerable state, it took her back.

Took her back to the days where life was seemingly less complicated.

The puppy was otherwise dormant, save a few sneezes and whining that shocked Jinx each time. It was intriguing how such a small creature could be so brave, standing up to those dogs despite the bullying they were doing. In the midst of her thoughts, something about Wally popped up, how he told her a story about his ancestors, who were soldiers in some big war back then. She didn't really bring herself to care, because she wasn't fond of history itself, but she picked up on certain qualities of a soldier he described. Compassion. Courage. Bravery. Fear.

The puppy was a soldier, wasn't it?

Even in the brink of trouble, even when it was scared, it wouldn't back down. It was odd, but she harbored a feeling of admiration towards the puppy. Unlike her, it didn't accept its place in life; just because it was small, it didn't mean it would bow down immediately to the larger forces. It fought on for what it wanted.

She wished she had a stronger resolve back then, as well. That thought rang in her head as her eyes slowly grew heavier and the world seemed like it stopped turning on its axis, slowly sinking into a fit of deep sleep, exhausted from the worry she hadn't felt in a long time.

* * *

Wally opened the door to his apartment to find a rare but sanguine sight.

Jinx was hunched over the counter, a hand caressing the soft fur of the puppy as she dozed. She looked at peace, like she fell asleep petting the puppy. The puppy didn't look like it minded either, as the two slept side-by-side. Or head-to-side. Whatever.

Surprised but elated to see her in such a normal state, he quickly grabbed a blanket to put over her as she slept. Something about her face reminded him of the brief flash of sadness, one of the first emotions he had seen when he first met her robbing a pendant with the HIVE Five, but he figured he was just imagining things.

It had been a long day, after all.

* * *

**Sorry for the wait, guys, I've been stressing over SAT prep and having a severe writer's block, so I haven't updated in a while, but thanks for all your patience!**


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